Category Archives: designing

Darling Children’s Mittens

Size Large, with Autumn Heather as Main Color

Size Medium, with Aurora Heather as Main Color

With my abundance of Knit Pick Palette fingerling weight yarn I went to work on a children’s mitten pattern that nicely fits small hands. I have plenty of left over yarn from all the mitten-making so this seemed like a good thing to work out as a use for small amounts of yarn.

Since children have such different sized hands I simply could not say “age 4” and have that make scenes. My grand baby that is 2 years old has bigger hands than his sister that is 3 1/2 years old. I went ahead and knitted all the sizes and measured them, that way you can take a measurement of a child’s hand and pick the right size in the pattern for them.

Here’s the FREE pattern. Enjoy!

DarlingChildren’sMittens.updated2025 Download

Big Cuff Mittens

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I can’t seem to get away from knitting mittens. Sure, I make other things, but I always seem to come to the mitten. I started this pattern by making the large pair, then I worked out the other sizes. The colors from the small pair turned out to be my favorite so I’m using the midnight blue ones as my “cover shot”. The funny thing about this pattern is that I designed it all with paper and pencil instead of using the computer. We were staying outside of Durango, Colorado and I didn’t have internet. I normally use an online graphing site, stitchfiddle.com, to design my colorwork patterns. Since I didn’t have a connection for several weeks I ended up making with 4-stitch repeat pattern on paper. So old fashioned!

Here’s the pattern for FREE!

big-cuff-mittens-1 Download

The Duds

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We are back from our trip to the American Southwest. We traveled in Nevada, Arizona, back to Nevada and then to Utah. I did A LOT of knitting on that 5 month trip. I was designing up a storm with more projects in the fail pile than being “Success!” category. However, I learned a lot from my mistakes! Just for kicks I decided to post 3 “fails” – poorly fitting ear-flap hats. They are now in the “Goodwill” pile at our house. Maybe someone with really low-set ears will be excited to find these hats at the thrift store! Seriously I just couldn’t get the ear flap length right. After these three tries I gave up on ear flaps. I did learn some things about color and contrast. The red hat, for example, doesn’t have enough contrast between the two colors. Sometimes what looks right on my screen during the design process doesn’t look right in the actual knitting. I’m learning!

ummm….are those upside down agave plants? Why? Why would you do that?

Spring Seeding Mittens

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During the last few months I’ve been doing a lot of stranded color work. I’ve been very interested in seeding patterns and have designed a few mittens where the seeding isn’t just on the palm in the traditional way. With Spring Seeding I have made the mitten the same on both sides thus creating a mitten set that doesn’t have a left or a right side. Here’s the FREE pattern for you to enjoy:

Spring Seeding Mittens Download

Carmelita Mittens

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Happy New Year! Today I’m posting my newest pattern: Carmelita Mittens. They are named after my daughter Carmelita Jacobina. I’ve been doing a lot of stranded color work over the last few months. Mostly I’ve focused on sharp edge designs—think diamonds and zig zags. Then I was struck with the idea of doing more rounded edges in the design and worked my way into floral patterns. If you are interested in making these mittens I’ve written up the pattern. It’s free—Enjoy!

Carmelita Mittens Download

Weaving In Ends

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After designing a sweater using left over yarn to make stripes, I spent HOURS weaving in the ends. I’m writing up the pattern now and for the required skills it will say: know how to knit, purl, and WEAVE IN ENDS… lots of ends. It’s not complicated, just time consuming. Stay tuned for the pattern. It should be up in a couple of weeks.

Not fleece, but lots of love and happiness.

On the “tedious meter” my other hobby ranks higher than knitting. When it come to weaving in ends, loom bead work is tedious. Even with a fantastic magnifying light it’s hard to thread the little needle I use for beading.

To finish the piece, one needs to take each thread and carefully hide and secure it in the piece. I’ve been spending hours doing this. In the end it’s quite satisfying.

Back to the knitting… I’m breaking several of the “weaving in rules” on the left-over sweater. I’m tying knots because the piece is so heavy it will pull a hole into the space I’m trying to close. I’m weaving in as I go because I’m not pulling this sucker out for any reason. Also, I can see what I’m doing better with some of the tails gone. I’m weaving in before blocking. I went with my gut on that one; it just seems like the right thing to do. Sometimes you got to break the rules.

As Simple as a Country Song

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I have heard more than a few times that “anyone could write a county song”. It’s in the same vein (vain!) as people who think children can paint modern art. “It looks so simple, anyone can do it.” However, simple and beautiful things are not so easily created. I use to actually write country music. Sometimes it was easy. An idea would come to me that was catchy, creative, and new. Essentially that’s the deal–it has to be new– never done before. Trying to design mittens has given me the same feelings. This should be simple (but it isn’t).

I have re-worked the thumb gusset on the stranded mitten about 8 times. It’s time to put it away and not think about it for a while.